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<title>Strangers by the sea by Miledith</title>
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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30050328">Strangers by the sea</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miledith/pseuds/Miledith'>Miledith</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>No Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Developing Friendships, Experimental Style, Freeform, Gen, Inspired by Music, Late Night Writing, Late at Night, Platonic Relationships, Random Encounters, Short, Strangers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:47:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,413</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30050328</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miledith/pseuds/Miledith</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Two strangers meet on the beach...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>No Romantic Relationship(s)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Strangers by the sea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Song recommended for listening while reading: Raury - God's Whisper</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She wasn't sure how long she knew him - by now it felt like forever. However she could clearly remember the first time she saw him. She had thought that nobody besides her frequented the remote beach located near her house, but one evening she was just walking along the hidden path leading to the shore when she saw something was out of the ordinary. At first glance she almost mistook the figure sitting on the sand for a washed up log - since the sea would spew those out from time to time - but very quickly that assumption was shattered into pieces when she saw slight movement and a glint of moonlight reflecting off a shiny piece on his clothing. It was strange and unseen for a person other than her to be there so she understandably retreated into the safety of the bushes that surrounded the pathway. On the second night she saw him again, this time choosing to observe from afar still mostly hidden among the tall grass for what seemed like hours, before once again abandoning her post. He never moved from his spot. After a few more days she became sure that he noticed her presence as she inched closer each time. She was still uneasy with the sudden intrusion into the space that she thought was only hers. A week has passed before she decided to reclaim the spot and mustered the courage to sit down at the shore as far of a distance away from him as possible, nearly at the very end of the beach which wasn't big in the first place. The gap shrunk as time went by. She began to gather more information with each of those visits. She realized that he must have found the same solace in the surroundings as she did coming here long before he appeared. She also began to memorize him like she did with every aspect of this place when she first discovered it years back. His hair was dark - almost black - a few loose strands falling in his face; the rest tucked neatly under the hood on his head. A few weeks had to pass before he removed it. By then she knew his face just as she knew every other piece of the scenery. She had stopped measuring the time when she first gathered up a pile of dry driftwood and sticks scattered on the sand and in the vegetation growing around it to create a campfire. He only observed. A few of those in and the stack was waiting there even before she got to the spot, though the time she visited the beach was never fixed. She noticed he wore a lot of dark colors, rarely straying from the blacks and grays. Then they began sitting half facing each other from the opposite sides of the fire. Still mostly staring at the dark waves, but stealing glances from each other every now and again. Seasons got colder and they dressed progressively warmer, but even then he remained mostly unaffected by the temperature. It had been spring again when she could confidently describe his eyes in detail, a clear green reminiscent of the pine trees that hid this place from the rest of the world, their fresh scent mixing with that of the sea breeze and smoke coming up from the fire along with golden embers that disappeared a few meters above the flames, replaced on the backdrop of the night sky by the numerous stars. Up until then he had become the silent bearer of all of her unspoken secrets and feelings. She knew he would be there no matter what life threw at her outside of the time she spent by the sea. It became a constant and an anchor for her, just like every slick rock, thrown onto the sand and glistening from water that crashed into it. In summer she started to feel like she knew him. Aided by the daylight that during this season lingered over the horizon even into the night - she noticed changes in his face that came with his different moods and could without fault connect them to what he felt. She was sure he worked her out too. And yet they never spoke, the sound of the chirping cicadas almost booming within their silence. Perhaps that even helped establish the connection that formed between them, since there was no place for untrue words and fake claims that could muck things up. No smoke was blown in their faces and in a way they knew each other better than they ever knew anybody else. She observed and more times than she could understand at that point, she noticed his bewilderment. He seemed to be confused as to why she kept him company. Some things just couldn’t be conveyed through silence. The quiet was broken on a cold, autumn day. She asked him if she could sit next to him just for some much needed warmth. The waves that night crept onto the sand much further than usually, pushed by the strong wind. He nodded and in turn offered her his name - one that felt new and unknown to her. Evening by evening the number of words exchanged by them grew and sand started filling the small gaps between the pebbles of familiarity that were already thrown into the jar of their relationship. She should have been disappointed by what he told her long way into the time they spent talking, but she wasn't. She could never be, because by then she knew him, she truly knew him. Not just through his words but through every second they spent here on the remote beach, listening to the waves and the crackling of the fire. They were connected on a level on which the swaying trees behind them connected to the ground. On the same level as they felt connected to the scenery surrounding them. It felt as though they were both part of this picture, constant yet changing, not unlike the moon, which accompanied them, growing and shrinking, but always up there. The wind blew the same for them both, the sand one of them would often pick up in their hand just to let it escape through their fingers was identical for each of them. They both could feel it whipping and stirring around their ankles just the same.<br/>There was this one evening when they could sense something brewing inside both of them. The air felt thick and overwhelming, bringing droplets of sweat onto their faces and the fire seemed to burn hotter than it usually did. Talking didn’t seem to lift the weight that time. She led the way when she stood up abruptly and settling into a sturdy, grounded stance let out a scream. It was primal and natural, her fists clenched tightly as she threw her head back, putting all of her lung strength into it. He followed shortly after. The night that fell hours ago swallowed the sounds along with the evermoving sea, as they continued hollering, whooping and shouting without any rhyme or reason. She threw off her shoes before running into the water which was washing over the edge of the shore. She immersed herself for as long as she could hold her breath before emerging. Her clothes were now clinging to her, soaked with salty water. He as well abandoned his shoes and jacket, joining her in the water. Wild joy spread onto their faces as they splashed around, raising their heads to the moon before once more howling at it just like wolves are said to do. And then they laughed - openly and loudly, a brilliant sound ringing in their ears, washing over them in a sense of completion. Now, even more so than ever before they were just pieces of the puzzle, finishing the picture that stretched from the pine trees and the hidden path to the open waters of the sea, dark and menacing to some, but beautiful and limitless in the eyes of those two.<br/>They might not have been destined to ever meet beyond this space, but they couldn’t care less. Here they were each other’s best friends, while outside they were complete strangers. She never knew what pathway he took to find himself on the beach that evening and she didn’t need to know it. They were content feeling as if the shore and the world outside could never exist next to one another.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I know this probably won't really get off the ground since it's an original work with a very vague title and tags, but I wrote it one night playing off a specific vibe I got from listening to the song God's Whisper by Raury. I tried really hard to convey those feelings and I hope whoever is reading it got at least a fraction of them through it.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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